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9.09.2013

Organization..

I am a city girl at heart. I love the noise, the excitement, the close quarters, and the diversity that city living offers. But in exchange for a great sense of community, happenings ALL the time, and all the museums, theaters, parks, concerts, one could ever want, I have no closet space. I mean literally no closet space. Because the closets that came with the house were so pathetic and minuscule, The SPOUSE decided to tear them all out, and replace them with Ikea's huge modular Pax wardrobe systems. Great decision, if you ask me. And even though I have my "closets" configured in a way that allows me to store all of my belongings, I still was reverting to the same ol' clothes, and same ol' accessories.

It was a couple of years ago (March 2011) when I read Oprah's "O Magazine" on storage solutions that I was my most inspired. 6 super-stylish women decided that in order to make the best of their limited space, they would incorporate their clothing, jewelry, shoes, and accessories into their home decor.

This woman added a rod to the top of her closet to hang knee boots, took pics of each and every shoe and placed them on each shoe box (whew), and placed necklaces on a tie rack in her closet after downsizing from a house to a small apartment

Notice the scarves as decoration on this wall outside her closet? Painter and sculptor, Elena Agostinis didn't understand why her 300+ scarf collection had to be stored in bins, so she decided to show off her beauteous collection where she could admire them everyday.

Monica Rich Kosann, author of the book, Living With What You Love, is a jewelry designer, so it seems fitting that her jewelry would be a part of her everyday existence. She "sorts ruthlessly" through her pieces and keeps them separate. But she uses boxes, bags, picture frames, and other household items to store and display her wares.

When Brooke Cundiff decided she wanted to store her 125 pairs of shoes somewhere other than the floor, this antique curio did the job for her most worn shoes.

Displaying my undergarments as if they were being merchandised in a store? This is what owner of Journelle, Claire Chambers did. I'm still trying to picture by 36H bras and granny panties hanging there... Not as appealing I must say. LOL

It made perfect sense to me! Why hide what is perhaps the most precious of one's wardrobe into the sequestered world of a closet? Additionally, I know that "out of sight, out of mind" is so true when getting dressed in the morning. If I don't see it right away, I'm usually too lazy to look for it, so I usually wind up wearing the same items of clothing all the time, accompanied by the same accessories. And I can honestly (and embarrassingly) admit that I have enough clothes and accessories to wear something completely different for about 4 months. And that's only spring/summer clothing! Sigh...

This summer we again had some work done on the house, and I thought this was as opportune time as any to once again rearrange my clothing and accessories so that they are displayed in a wondrous fashion, in the hopes that I will no longer be allergic to colors other than Black & White (this color combo has almost consumed me this summer), and I will stop purchasing necklaces and earrings and bracelets and rings and scarves that I almost never wear.